1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to collection of non-safety data such as vehicle probe data from vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle information communication system in which identifying information is disassociated from vehicle probe data before being collected by an external source.
2. Background Information
Recently, vehicles are being equipped with a variety of informational systems such as navigation systems, Sirius and XM satellite radio systems, two-way satellite services, built-in cell phones, DVD players and the like. These systems are sometimes interconnected for increased functionality. Various informational systems have been proposed that use wireless communications between vehicles and between infrastructures, such as roadside units. These wireless communications have a wide range of applications ranging from crash avoidance to entertainment systems. The type of wireless communications to be used depends on the particular application. Some examples of wireless technologies that are currently available include digital cellular systems, Bluetooth systems, wireless LAN systems and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) systems.
Dedicated short range communications (DSRC) is an emerging technology that has been recently investigated for suitability in vehicles for a wide range of applications including safety and non-safety applications. DSRC technology will allow vehicles to communicate directly with other vehicles and with roadside units to exchange a wide range of information. In the United States, DSRC technology will use a high frequency radio transmission (5.9 GHz) that offers the potential to effectively support wireless data communications between vehicles, and between vehicles, roadside units and other infrastructures. The important feature of DSRC technology is that the latency time between communications is very low compared to most other technologies that are currently available. Another important feature of DSRC technology is the capability of conducting both point-to-point wireless communications and broadcast wireless messages in a limited broadcast area.
Typically, this type of communications occurs between moving vehicles entering a communications zone with fixed roadside communication equipment or directly between moving vehicles. The wireless technology provides the foundation for a variety of applications including vehicle safety, emergency vehicle notification, automated tolling, enhanced navigation, traffic management and many others. Accordingly, wireless technology can be used to provide various information from vehicle-to/from-infrastructure, and from vehicle-to-vehicle, such as providing GPS location, vehicle speed and other vehicle Parameter Identifiers (PIDs) including engine speed, engine run time, engine coolant temperature, barometric pressure, etc. When communications are established with between vehicles and/or roadside units in close proximity, this information would be communicated to provide a complete understanding of the vehicles in the broadcast area. This information then can be used by the vehicles for both vehicle safety applications and non-safety applications.
Recently, the automotive industry and various government agencies have been involved in a coordinated effort to develop a roadway communications infrastructure that collects information from vehicles. Since many vehicles are already equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as a large array of sensors that are necessary for operating and maintaining the vehicle, this data is already available on many of the vehicles without any modifications other than a wireless communications system such as DSRC. This data, when coupled with additional information provided by GPS (vehicle's position, speed, acceleration and direction) would be an invaluable resource to assist in the development, maintenance and planning of roadways and transportation systems. This type of data to be collected by vehicles is called “probe data.”
In safety-related applications, a “Common Message Set’ (CMS) will likely be broadcast by each vehicle giving a temporary ID (“MAC address”), relevant kinematical and location information such as GPS/Vehicle Position, velocity, vehicular dimensions, throttle position, etc. For a crash avoidance system, a vehicle would analyze the provided information, determine if a crash was imminent, send a confirmation note to the other vehicle, and quickly exchange all the information to confirm and mitigate the incident before crashing. Once the accident seems likely, the system will respond with an appropriate countermeasure, e.g., pre-tensioning the seatbelts, pre-arming the airbags, vibrating the seat, producing a visual/auditory alert, deploying an external airbag, aligning bumper heights, etc.
However, in non-safety-related applications, specifically collecting probe vehicle information of road segments, speed, weather information, etc., the temporary ID (“MAC address”) may be stored with the probe data such that the various information about a driver can be available to other individuals. This collection of probe data (private information) could raise privacy concerns (“Big Brother tracking me”). In other words, there might be an uproar by the customers against the collection of probe data.
Multiple strategies have been proposed to solve this privacy problem in collecting probe data. One particular strategy is to randomize the MAC address. However, randomizing the MAC address fault may result in inaccurate predictions when such an identifier must be stable. For example, if a pre-crash condition is about to occur, changing a vehicle's information could have serious consequences. The crashing vehicle will be attempting to reach the old address to no avail, and must await discovery and re-authentication of the newly randomized vehicle prior to communicating the same, urgent message. Given that such an external event cannot be predicted, randomized the MAC address is not a preferred solution.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved vehicle information communication system. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.